A/N Not much to say about this chapter other than I hope everyone enjoys it. Also the mention of Spike's reading glasses is for kristendotcom who was interested whether he would still have them or not. So yeh, enjoy… xxtil

Chapter Fourteen – Black Out

A week later Spike was packing up for the day. He put away his reading glasses and closed down his computer when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." The door opened and Buffy walked in.

"Well now, this is a surprise."

"A pleasant one I hope."

"I guess that depends on whether you've come to commandeer my car keys or not." Spike said with a grin.

"Your car is safe." Buffy smirked. "For now." She added.

"I'm here because I got a phone call from Dawn. She says she's staying over at Janice's tonight, so she won't be able to make video night."

"Did it check out?"

"Yep, I spoke to Janice's mom. No alcohol, drugs or boys; just a night of R-rated horror movies."

"Good. So it looks like it's just the two of us tonight then. I can give you a lift straight to mine if you want. Unless you need to go home first?"

"I'm still coming over?" Buffy asked confused. It hadn't occurred to her that Spike would still want her to come over even though Dawn couldn't make it. She'd always assumed that the regular video nights were for Dawn's benefit.

"Of course you are, unless you have plans as well?"

"Nope, no plans." Buffy said with a huge smile.

"Right, let's go then."

"Spike?"

"Yeh?"

"Can I drive?"

"Wench." Spike handed over the keys with a pained look on his face.

They made it back to Spike's apartment in record time. In fact Spike was still white and shaking from the near death experience as Buffy flopped down on his couch and started flicking through the TV channels. He excused himself for a quick shower and after he'd changed he made his way into the living room to find Buffy engrossed in 'Passions'.

"What are you watching that trash for?" Spike asked, laughing at her. Buffy opened her mouth to retort, but thought better of it. Instead she poked her tongue out at him and turned the TV off.

"Need a hand with dinner?"

"You know how to cook?" Spike looked dubious.

"Well no, but you can teach me." Buffy said, embarrassed that he'd called her on it.

With in minutes Buffy was preparing vegetables for a stir fry. Spike was calling out step by step instructions and the meal actually seemed a lot easier to prepare than she'd thought. As it came together, delicious smells flooded the kitchen and Buffy continued stirring.

"It's sticking to the bottom." Buffy whined, her lower lip protruding in a pout.

"Here let me help you." Spike stepped up behind her and held the wooden spatula with her, his body pressed up against her. As he watched the food over Buffy's shoulder he was unconsciously breathing gently on her neck, sending delightful shivers through her body.

"You need to flip it over, like this, as you stir it, so the stuff closer to the top goes to the bottom. Otherwise it cooks unevenly." The feel of his strong arms around her was as distracting as the masculine scent of his aftershave. What was he saying to her? Right, food, stirring. Buffy snapped out of it as Spike stepped away to get plates out of the cupboard.

After they'd eaten, Buffy and Spike moved into the living room. Just as Spike started going through his DVDs, the apartment was plunged into pitch black.

"What the hell?"

"Oh that's just perfect. My turn to choose and there's a power cut." Spike grumbled. He slowly groped his way out of the room. Buffy stifled a giggle as he walked into a coffee table on the way out and gave a small yelp. Within five minutes he was back with a big torch and a small battery-powered radio.

"The whole block has no power. I thought we could use this to find out what's going on." Spike hit the on switch and the radio crackled to life. A news bulletin on Sunnydale 104.4 informed them that almost the entire town was blacked out thanks to some incompetent electricity cable repairmen, and it didn't look like it would be fixed until the following morning.

"Looks like you're stuck with me for the night." Spike said as he moved over to one of the cupboards in the living room. He rooted around for a little while before coming across the candles he'd been looking for as well as a tiny 8" TV that took eight huge batteries, but only had three with it. Buffy and Spike giggled together as they blindly groped around in the cupboards for more batteries ending in a race to find the last one. Spike found one and they took the TV and the candles into his bedroom. It would get cold in the living room, Spike reasoned to himself. They lit the candles and placed them around the room, giving it a soft glow. Then they put the TV on one side of the circular bed.

"Have you got some pyjamas I can borrow for the night?" Buffy's question was answered with a cheeky grin. Great. He doesn't even own any. Buffy blushed a little with embarrassment.

"There should be some T-shirts and sweats in those drawers over there." Buffy grabbed them from the drawer and changed quickly outside the room in the dark. When she went back into the room, Spike had changed into T-shirt and boxers and was waiting in the bed.

Spike sucked in a breath as he took in the blonde beauty as she joined him in the round bed. He noted her choice of one of his old black T-shits that he'd worn as a vampire. He didn't think he'd ever seen her looking this good.

"You'd better not try anything." Spike said with a grin. "I will defend my honour with my very life."

"I'll be a perfect gentleman, I promise." Buffy said with a giggle.

The two blondes settled into he bed, and spent a couple of hours flicking through the channels, watching bits of programmes until Spike found Jurassic Park 3. Any possible scare factor that the film might have had was taken away by the impossibly tiny screen and the black and white picture. But Buffy was quickly engrossed in the barely-there plot. Spike waited for a suspenseful moment before launching himself at Buffy, velociraptor style. He chuckled as the slayer shrieked in terror, but her cute little pout soon appeared and Spike settled down with a promise to make her breakfast in bed the next day. Little chit got away with anything, thanks to that little pout.

After the film had finished, Spike turned the TV off.

"Tired?" He asked Buffy quietly.

"A little, it's hard work fending off a T-Rex." She said with a smile.

"That was a velociraptor!" Spike feigned shock.

"Course it was." She replied, smirking.

"Hey, this raptor could wipe the smile off your face any day of the week."

"I can slay anything that isn't human faster than you can say velociraptor." Buffy retorted, but amended slightly off Spike's look of disbelief. "Except little kittens and puppy dogs, they're so cute." Spike chuckled at this.

"So I just needed to roll over and get my belly scratched to slip under the slayer's radar. I wish I'd known that before." He said with a cute grin which widened as Buffy giggled at his joke. She was so gorgeous when she was playful like this. Spike couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun.

As he stared at her, Buffy stopped laughing.

"What is it?"

"It's just, you look so beautiful." He said softly. Buffy found it strange to hear him say it without the lust that used to accompany it.

"Th-thank you." Spike leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Shall we get some sleep?"

"Yeh. Good night, Spike."

"Good night, Buffy."